The Trick to Designing Highly Replayable Arcade and Linear Games

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The Trick to Designing Highly Replayable Arcade and Linear Games

JSLegendDev<br>May 21, 2026

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I recently finished a prototype for a game called HARVEST MOVE based on an arcade style game of the same name that I developed 3 years ago. In the original version, the player moves on a grid and needs to collect as many crops as possible while avoiding enemies. If they get hit, the player is presented with their current score, their best score and the ability to play again.

A screenshot of my HARVEST MOVE prototype<br>However, while remaking it, I took a few design decisions that altered massively the replayability of the game. I’d like to share what I did.

First, I structured the game into configuration of enemies (I’ll start using the term level rather than configuration to make things clearer) that determined what enemy types and how many where to be placed on the grid. I then, tied those levels to specific score thresholds. Therefore, once a player reached a threshold they would be seamlessly moved to the next level.<br>Secondly, I turned the player’s score into a currency. When they had a game over, they could spend the wealth accumulated to unlock more valuable crops that would start spawning in their next attempt. Even though players always replayed the game starting from the first level, they could accumulate wealth much faster which translated to faster progress through levels they had previously played. Additionally, the more crops they unlocked, the more likely they were to reach late game levels locked behind higher score thresholds because they simply earned more.<br>Now, why does this structure seemingly works in making an arcade/linear game more replayable? I have a few hypothesis to present which are listed below.<br>There is now a sense of permanent progression which mitigates the feeling of loss you experience after losing in a score based game. This makes you more likely to try again.

Replaying previous levels while being more powerful/quicker gives the player a very satisfying feeling of power which feeds into an innate power fantasy of some sort.

If your game has upgrades that meaningfully alter the gameplay experience, then you tap into a novelty effect that will make the game more enjoyable for longer. For example, having unique items/weapons the player can unlock or alternative pathways in a level or an alternative level.

Isn’t this just a Roguelike Structure?

I don’t think so. Roguelikes usually rely on procedural generation and randomization to keep things fresh. There is less emphasis on level design and more emphasis on making builds and testing them out. Rather, I would estimate this structure to be more similar to time loop based games like The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask.<br>In Majora’s Mask, you play through the same handcrafted environment over and over and progressively unlock things in the game allowing you to access things you couldn’t before.<br>However, that doesn’t mean procedural generation can’t be used. In fact, I used it in my game, but I don’t believe in it being a core aspect.<br>Conclusion

Considering I accidently discovered this through experimentation, I still think there is room for fine tuning. However, this makes me excited to test this structure again in future projects. I wonder how this would fit with an RPG or a platformer, etc…<br>That said, it would be nice if I could get your feedback on my game. To make things as convenient as possible, here is a google form (link to the game is inside the form) for you to provide your feedback so you don’t have to create an account to be able to comment.<br>Anyway, if you’re interested in all things related to programming, game development and game design I recommend subscribing to not miss out on future posts.

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